Three men have been arrested on suspicion of drug dealing after police raided a house in Earlham, including the suspected accountant for a county line dealer group.

Officers from the Norwich safer neighbourhood team force entry to a house on Earlham Green Lane, after local intelligence led them to believe it was a base for Class A drug dealing.

Three men in their late 30s were arrested inside the address on suspicion of being concerned ion the supply of Class A drugs, and taken into custody where they will be questioned.

Four mobile phones and a computer were seized, along with bottles of methadone and a white powder believed to be a Class A drug.

Sgt Darren Harper said: “There has been a lot of methadone seized because there is some suggestion of dealing methadone. There were quite a few seizures including a computer some mobile phones and some tablets, and there are lots of contacts found of possible abusers and dealers.

Sgt Harper added: “There were throwing knives and a bow and arrow found, and a sword in the front room, so there were a mixture of weapons there.

“There was also some cannabis found so there has been some Class A and Class B seized.

“This is disruption to let the community know we are out and about taking this issue seriously.”

Drugs dog PD Rigsby was also brought in to check the property, including underneath floorboards in the upstairs boiler room.

Anyone with information about drug dealing in their area should contact Norfolk Police on non-emergency number 101.

Operation Gravity

Enforcement work against Class A drug dealing in Norfolk has been carried out under the banner of Operation Gravity since November 2016.

The force launched an operation to make life harder for London drug gangs funnelling crack and heroin into Norwich, Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn.

Police declared a “critical incident” in response to alarming violence spreading across the county, including stabbings, assaults, and the murder of drug user Steve Stannard in Norwich by dealer Hassiem Baqir.

Since the start of the campaign the kingpins of two main “county lines” running from London into Norwich and Great Yarmouth have now been convicted and jailed, and violence linked to drug gangs has fallen.

Following a six month undercover operation in late 2017 and early 2018, around 60 suspected dealers have been arrested.

Over the life of the operation more than 650 arrests have now been made.